I'm the one who bitches about the vibration without the b/s's. It wasn't as bad until I went turbo, and I'm quite sensitive to engine NVH - and I spend a lot of time at 3000rpms+ (Atlanta is a great place to cruise FAST), where it's worse. That said, a LOT of people find it perfectly acceptable, and it should free up a few ponies, which the 109hp carb 2.6 can really use. My broken brackets were for the p/s pump (and those probably were aggravated by a ever loosening back bracket bolt, which is almost inaccessable), and an overly fragile cast aluminum a/c compressor bracket, and many of you have the cast iron one as I now do, which apparently is indestructible. Since your shaft is totally chewed, I'd go with the b/s elim. kit, but get the good one with new sprocket for the crank and oil pump, and file the central slot in the only remaining chain guide (bottom left hand one) out a little oval to give you some tension adjusting room to avoid noise and short chain life (remember the chain drives the oil pump!). Locktite the sprocket bolts, too, and don't forget to have a bearing shell pressed into the driver's side b/s front hole to block off the oil passage there, or you'll have disastrously low oil pressure. Also either buy a new oil pump, or make dead sure that the clearances in yours are tight, and remove the oil pressure relief plug, spring, and piston and thoroughly clean out the bore to keep it from sticking (that's the big hex plug at about 1:00 on the pump). I shimmed my pressure relief spring with a plain flat washer of appropriate diameter to get a higher hot oil pressure, but if your pump is sound and oil clearances are correct, you should get the proper 10psi/1000rpms oil pressure at least up to 4500rpm, beyond which the carb 2.6 is out of breath anyway, and it's time to shift. I can get up to 5500 with the turbo (higher, actually, but the turbo runs out of max boost maintainabiltiy there), so I shim the spring.

Since it's a big I4 engine, with a long stroke, proper static and dynamic balance is very important, and 87's point is well made.

I'm going back to balance shafts on my rebuild, but they have no real effect on reciprocating balance, just on the inherent 2nd order shaking force inherent in big 4's, so I'll be having all my parts professionally balanced, too.

Happy wrenching!